Photograph by: TBA
, Vancouver Sun

When BC Hydro recently announced its upcoming rate increases, families and communities across the province were hit with a chill as piercing as the recent snap of cold weather.

Schools and hospitals will be hit with millions in additional energy costs annually. B.C.’s Education Minister responded to school trustees’ concerns by suggesting that school boards look at closing schools as a way to find budget savings. On top of inflicting a heavy toll on communities and families, closing schools simply doesn’t solve the problem.

All B.C. schools, hospitals and households face higher energy costs going forward, and will need tools for dealing with these increasing costs. Increasing the pace of energy efficiency retrofits could take the chill out of rising rates, and allow public institutions to stay warm in an economically and environmentally responsible way. Retrofits bring down energy costs, reduce GHG emissions (buildings make up 89 per cent of B.C. school districts’ and health authorities’ GHG emissions), and create good green jobs across the province.

B.C. is piloting Pay-As-You-Save retrofit programs for residential buildings in 2014. This allows homeowners to pay back the costs of retrofitting through their energy bills. An expanded retrofit program for public buildings could effectively mitigate future energy costs for schools and hospitals; currently $208 million annually. Health authorities are facing an extra $3 million in hydro costs in 2014, rising to $9 million annually by 2018. These accelerating costs increase the urgency to implement building retrofits, and shorten their payback time.

From 2010 to 2012, school districts and health authorities paid more than $30 million to the Pacific Carbon Trust (PCT) to purchase offsets, only to see those dollars subsidize industry operations. The recently announced wind-down of the PCT will create savings of $5 million per year, and leave an expected accumulated surplus of $37 million by 2015-16. Returning PCT’s surplus to fund a retrofit program for health authorities and school boards would help redress the early missteps of the PCT system, while continuing the government’s continued commitment to carbon neutral government.

Reducing energy demand is an important part of carbon neutrality, and would lessen the need for more new generation sources that drive up costs. Knowing that the cheapest watt of energy is the one avoided, BC Hydro has the target of achieving 66 per cent of its needs through conservation. B.C. could also see additional upward pressures on heating costs if the province is successful in developing an export-focused LNG industry to access higher world prices. Current infrastructure programs provide only as much funding for school and hospital efficiency upgrades as are paid out in offsets.

Efficiency retrofits so far are showing promising returns across B.C. The Delta school district’s $6.4 million efficiency upgrades will save the district more than $500,000 in energy costs per year. An investment in solar thermal panels at the Penticton Regional Hospital and Summerland Health Centre has cut natural gas use by 49 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively. Past B.C. government investments in efficiency projects are estimated to have created 500 new jobs, and school districts received funds in 2013 to identify further projects. Accelerating the pace of retrofits will create more well-paying green jobs. According to BC Stats, every $1 million spent on energy efficiency creates 10 to 15 new jobs, one of the highest job creation figures of any industry. This is job creation that reduces greenhouse gases, and creates cost savings that pay off investments in ever-shorter time frames. The accumulated PCT surplus could create 370 to 550 new jobs.

Renewal of the public building stock provides jobs and experience for the electricians, carpenters, insulators, installers and others who can green B.C.’s building stock going forward. Retrofit programs across the continent have built local capacity and connections through training, from aboriginal communities in Manitoba to labour groups in Portland, and become focal points for green, resilient and engaged communities.

Hard decisions will need to be taken about how public institutions can best serve their communities, but letting energy cost increases drive school closures seems short-sighted and counterproductive. Our schools and hospitals need the tools to help mitigate the damage that higher energy costs will inflict on their budgets. Turning surplus funds paid out to the Pacific Carbon Trust for offsets into a seed fund for efficiency retrofits would help B.C.’s schools and hospitals control their energy costs, reduce GHG emissions, and create good jobs.

Jonathan Kassian is the Coordinator for Green Jobs BC, a collaboration between labour and environmental organizations to build a strong sustainable economy in B.C.

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